Press Play
Project Type: Publication
Genre: Poetry
Title: Press Play
Author: haroon
Cover Design: Jason Malipol
Format: Paperback
Price: £12.99 + p&p (UK)
for delivery outside the UK please contact Haroon
Haroon had been working with an editor on this manuscript before approaching us to talk about publication. We worked together to refine the manuscript and suggested an additional piece of writing to put the opening poem into context.
As much of Haroon's writing is around his love for film, and the title references the old joy of watching videos, we chose courier new, the standard font for film scripts.
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The book opens with the instruction > p r e s s p l a y > and ends with < b e k i n d r e w i n d <
Jason Malipol came up with two marvellous cover designs and Haroon decided to use both.
Haroon Khan's debut 'Press Play' draws on the syncopated, sample-based rhythms and free-associative imagery of hip-hop to evoke the tension between Britishness and Asian-ness; masculinity and vulnerability; art and life; distraction and focus. The discordant finds resolution over and over again in the chord that holds this collection together: love.
Gemma Weekes
There is a preciseness with which Haroon describes the inter complexities of love, mid-life crises and loss within his debut poetry collection Press Play. Each ‘intermission’ throughout the collection allows the reader to pause while still being provoked by the offerings. These poems are lyrical explorations of his life as a South Asian and neurodiverse man living in the UK right now.
Afshan D’Souza-Lodhi
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We’re born, we live and we die. But what of that life has been lived? The complexities and unique moments in between? Haroon’s press play illustrates the nuances, the beautiful, the raw and the devastating moments in one’s life when press play was pushed for us all. I related to this book so much and I guarantee you will too.
Rubi Alexandra
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In these astonishing poems, Haroon lays bare his soul for us - from the love and romance that threatens to overwhelm him, to searingly honest appraisals of his autism and ADHD, and his place in the world. Words to make and break your heart.
Iqbal Hussain.
Author, Northern Boy.
